JPH1078308A - Inspecting device for appearance of electronic parts - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device which inspects the appearance of electronic parts in higher cycle time. SOLUTION: At each time an intermittently transferred part (P) stops (rests) in an image pickup position, image pickup is performed twice for one part (P) using blue light and red light in turn, and the two image data obtained for each part (P) are stored in turn into a first image memory 3 and a second image memory 4. While the image data of one part (P) is stored into one image memory, simultaneously, the image data of the previous part (P) which is stored previously into the other image memory is processed and judged. Therefore, this process for inspecting appearance of parts is performed in higher cycle time comparing with traditional inspection in which image pickup, data storing, data processing, and quality judgment are performed sequentially.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an appearance inspection apparatus for judging the appearance of electronic parts by image processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an appearance inspection apparatus of this type captures an image with a CCD camera while illuminating the part which is intermittently conveyed and stops at an imaging position, and loads the image data obtained by the imaging into a memory. Then, the image data is subjected to necessary data processing to determine whether the appearance of the component is good, and the quality of the component is determined according to the result of the determination.

[0003]

The above-mentioned conventional visual inspection apparatus performs a desired visual inspection in the order of parts stop → imaging → data fetch → data processing → judgement. The above-described imaging and data capture are generally performed using a camera synchronization signal. More specifically, imaging is performed at the first and second signal intervals after the component stops, and the second and third imaging are performed. Image data is captured at the eye signal interval, and data processing and pass / fail determination are performed after the data capture is completed.

[0004] Recently, it has been demanded that the visual inspection of components be performed with a high tact time, and with the speeding-up, the inspection time per component tends to decrease. For example, in order to perform an appearance inspection at 1200 parts / min, the inspection holding time per part is 50 hours.
msec.

[0005] However, when the appearance inspection is performed by the above procedure using a synchronization signal having a signal interval of 1/60 sec, it takes a maximum of about 34 msec for imaging and data acquisition. In order to perform the visual inspection in min, data processing and pass / fail judgment must be performed in the remaining about 16 msec.
Under the current situation requiring / 30 to 1/20 sec, such a high-speed appearance inspection cannot be physically performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic component appearance inspection apparatus capable of performing an electronic component appearance inspection at a high tact time.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic component appearance inspection apparatus for determining the appearance of a component using image data obtained by imaging. Conveying means for intermittently conveying parts,
Imaging means for imaging a component stopped at an imaging position; data storage means for alternately capturing and storing image data obtained by imaging in a predetermined storage area each time a component is changed; and data storage means for storing image data of the imaging component. When the data is stored in the data storage unit, the data storage unit is provided with a quality determination unit that determines the appearance of the component by using the image data of the previous component.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, each time the part that is intermittently conveyed stops at the imaging position, an image is taken, and the image data obtained for each part is alternately taken into a predetermined area of the data storage means. On the other hand, in the time zone in which the image data of the imaging component is captured in the data storage means, the image data of the previous component captured earlier in the data storage means using the time zone is used for the component. Appearance inspection can be performed in parallel.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic component appearance inspection apparatus for determining the appearance of a component using image data obtained by imaging, a transport unit for intermittently transporting the inspection target component, and an imaging position. Illumination means for sequentially illuminating the components stopped at different color lights with different color light, imaging means for imaging the components stopped at the imaging position in accordance with the switching of the illumination light color, and image data for each illumination light color obtained by the imaging. A data storage unit for alternately capturing and storing the image data in a predetermined storage area each time the image data is changed, and, when image data of the imaging component is captured in the data storage unit, the image data of the previous component previously captured in the data storage unit. And a quality judgment means for judging the quality of the appearance of the component by using the feature.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, each time the part intermittently conveyed stops at the imaging position, the imaging is performed while switching the illumination light color, and the image data for each illumination light color obtained for each part is converted. On the other hand, while the image data of the image pickup component is fetched into the data storage means, the data is first fetched into the data storage means using the time zone. Using the image data of the front part, the appearance inspection for the part can be performed in parallel.

[0011]

1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an apparatus, FIG. 2 is a bottom view of an illuminator, and FIG. 3 is a timing chart of an appearance inspection. .

By the way, in this embodiment, as the appearance inspection apparatus, imaging is executed twice while switching the illumination light color for one component, and based on two image data obtained by imaging for each illumination light color. In this case, the appearance of the component is inspected.

First, the configuration of the visual inspection apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, 1 is a camera, 2 is an illuminator,
3 is a first image memory, 4 is a second image memory, 5 is a data processing unit, 6 is a main control unit, 7 is a monitor such as a CRT, 8 is a parts transfer board, 9 is a motor for driving the transfer board, and 10 is a motor for driving the transfer board. The component supply chute P is a component to be inspected.

The camera 1 is a monochrome camera having a two-dimensional CCD, and has a built-in synchronization signal generator for generating a synchronization signal (V synchronization signal) at 1/60 sec intervals as shown in FIG.

The illuminator 2 has the same number of blue LEDs 2a and red LEDs 2b alternately arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction in a ring-shaped casing. The illuminator 2 can illuminate the component P stopped at the imaging position with blue light or red light by turning on the blue LED 2a or the red LED 2b.

The first and second image memories 3 and 4 include a camera 1
In addition to alternately taking in and storing the image data obtained in the above every time the component P changes, processing data, display data, and the like are temporarily stored. Although two independent memories are used in the illustrated example, the storage area of one memory may be divided and assigned.

The data processing unit 5 includes FM, LUT, AUT
And the like, and performs data processing necessary for quality judgment on the image data of each component taken in each of the image memories 3 and 4. The contents of the data processing here are the same as those of the well-known ones, so that the description here is omitted.

The main control unit 6 comprises a microprocessor, and uses the synchronization signal fetched from the camera 1 as a reference timing for image pickup by the camera 1, switching of the illumination light color in the illuminator 2, switching of the data fetch memory, and intermittent operation of the motor 9. In addition to controlling the rotation and the like, the external appearance is judged according to an inspection program stored in advance. Further, a component image, a determination result, and the like are displayed on the monitor 7 as necessary.

The component conveying board 8 has a plurality of holding grooves at equal intervals on the outer peripheral surface, and is intermittently rotated by a pulse motor 9 in the direction of the arrow in the figure. Although not shown, an air suction hole is provided on the inner surface of each holding groove, and the component supply chute 10 is provided.
Is sucked and held in each holding groove in a predetermined direction, is conveyed in a predetermined direction in the same state, and temporarily stops at the imaging position. In addition, by selectively releasing the suction force generated in the holding groove at the non-defective product removal position and the defective product removal position, the non-defective product and the defective product can be dropped and sorted at different positions as indicated by arrows in the drawing.

Next, an inspection procedure performed by the above-described appearance inspection apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. At the time of inspection, the motor 9 is rotated by a predetermined angle, and the first part P is sent to the imaging position and stopped. Incidentally, it takes 14 msec from the stop of the rotation of the motor 9 to the complete stop of the part P.
It takes about c times.

After the first component P has completely stopped at the imaging position, the blue LED 2a is turned on at the falling edge of the first synchronization signal, and at the same time, the camera 1 images the component P under blue illumination. Incidentally, the time (shutter speed) required for imaging by the camera 1 is 2 msec. The image data obtained by the imaging under the blue illumination is captured and stored in the first image memory 3 until 1/60 sec elapses from the time when the imaging is completed. In addition, blue LED 2a
Turns off at the rise of the second synchronization signal.

Subsequently, the red LED 2b is turned on at the falling of the second synchronization signal, and at the same time, the camera 1 captures an image of the component P under red illumination. The image data obtained by the imaging under the red illumination is captured and stored in the first image memory 3 until 1/60 sec elapses after the completion of the imaging. The red LED 2b is 3
Turns off at the rising edge of the second synchronization signal.

When the imaging under the red illumination (second imaging) of the first component P is completed, the motor 9 is rotated by a predetermined angle to send the second component P to the imaging position and stop.

After the second component P has completely stopped at the imaging position, the blue LED 2a
Is turned on, and at the same time, the component P under blue illumination is imaged by the camera 1. The image data obtained by the imaging under the blue illumination is captured and stored in the second image memory 4 until 1/60 sec elapses after the completion of the imaging. The blue LED 2a is turned off at the rising of the fifth synchronization signal.

Subsequently, the red LED 2b is turned on at the fall of the fifth synchronization signal, and at the same time, the camera 1 captures an image of the component P under red illumination. The image data obtained by the imaging under the red illumination is captured and stored in the second image memory 4 until 1/60 sec elapses after the completion of the imaging. The red LED 2b is 6
Turns off at the rising edge of the second synchronization signal.

When the imaging of the second component P under red illumination (the second imaging) is completed, the motor 9 is rotated by a predetermined angle to send the third component P to the imaging position and stop.

After the third component P has completely stopped at the imaging position, the blue LED 2a
Is turned on, and at the same time, the component P under blue illumination is imaged by the camera 1. The image data obtained by the imaging under the blue illumination is captured and stored in the first image memory 3 until 1/60 sec elapses from the time when the imaging is completed. The blue LED 2a is turned off at the rising of the eighth synchronization signal.

Subsequently, the red LED 2b is turned on at the falling edge of the eighth synchronization signal, and at the same time, the camera 1 captures an image of the component P under red illumination. The image data obtained by the imaging under the red illumination is captured and stored in the first image memory 3 until 1/60 sec elapses after the completion of the imaging. The red LED 2b is 9
Turns off at the rising edge of the second synchronization signal.

When the imaging under the red illumination (second imaging) of the third component P is completed, the motor 9 is rotated by a predetermined angle to send the fourth component P to the imaging position and stop. Hereinafter, component imaging is repeated in the same procedure.

That is, every time the part P conveyed intermittently stops (stops) at the image pickup position, the image pickup is performed twice for one part P while switching the illumination light color between blue and red.
Each time the component P changes, the two image data obtained for each component P are stored in the first image memory 3 and the second image memory 4.
Are alternately captured and stored.

On the other hand, the time period from when the image data of the second part P under the blue illumination is started to be taken into the second image memory 4 until the imaging of the third part P under the blue illumination is completed. In this case, the part P is used by using the two pieces of image data of the first part P previously taken into the first image memory 3.
Is determined. More specifically, data processing required for quality determination is added to each of the image data under blue illumination and the image data under red illumination, and the initial appearance determination of the component P is performed based on the processed data. .

The time period from when the first image memory 3 starts to take in the image data of the third component P under the blue illumination, until the imaging of the fourth component P under the blue illumination is completed. Then, using the two pieces of image data of the second component P previously taken into the second image memory 4, the processing determination on the component P is similarly performed.

That is, in the time period when the image data of the imaging component P is taken into one of the image memories 3 or 4,
Utilizing the time zone, the image data of the previous part P previously taken into the other image memory 3 or 4 is used for the part P.
Is determined.

As described above, according to the appearance inspection apparatus of this embodiment, each time the part P intermittently conveyed stops (stops) at the imaging position, one part P is switched while switching the illumination light color between blue and red. Is performed twice, and the two image data obtained for each component P are alternately fetched and stored in the first image memory 3 and the second image memory 4, while the imaging component P
In the time zone in which the image data of the component P is captured in one image memory, the processing determination for the component P is performed using the image data of the previous component P previously captured in the other image memory using the time zone. Since it is executed in parallel, there is an advantage that a series of visual inspections on parts can be performed in a shorter tact time than when visual inspections are performed in the order of imaging, data acquisition, data processing and pass / fail judgment. Even when an inspection speed of 1200 pieces / min or more is required, it can sufficiently cope with this.

In addition, taking the synchronization signal of the camera 1 as a reference timing, image pickup, data acquisition, data processing and pass / fail judgment are executed, and switching of the illumination light color and intermittent conveyance of the parts P are executed. There is an advantage that the waiting time involved in the start of the execution can be eliminated and the time loss can be eliminated.

Further, since the imaging is performed twice for one component P while switching the illumination light color between blue and red, and the image data is taken in, the image is compared with the case where the imaging is performed once with the monochromatic illumination. By obtaining more detailed image information, the accuracy and reliability of the appearance inspection can be improved.

In the above-described embodiment, an example in which two image data having different illumination light colors are obtained for one component is described. However, one image data is obtained for one component and the appearance inspection is performed. In this case, the same operation and effect can be obtained.

[0038]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
Since the data capture of the imaged component and the process determination for the previous component can be executed in parallel, a series of visual inspections for the component can be performed as compared to the case where the visual inspection is performed in the order of imaging, data capture, data processing, and pass / fail determination. Can be performed with a high takt time, and even when an inspection speed of 1200 pieces / min or more is required, this can be sufficiently coped with.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the illuminator shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a timing chart of an appearance inspection.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Camera, 2 ... Illuminator, 2a ... Blue LED, 2b ... Red LED, 3 ... 1st image memory, 4 ... 2nd image memory,
5: Data processing unit, 6: Main control unit, 7: Monitor, 8 ...
Component transport board, 9: transport board drive motor, 10: component supply chute, P: component to be inspected.

Claims (4)

[Claims] An electronic component appearance inspection apparatus that determines the appearance of a component using image data obtained by imaging, a conveying unit that intermittently conveys an inspection target component, and an image of a component stopped at an imaging position. Imaging means; data storage means for alternately taking image data obtained by imaging into a predetermined storage area each time a component is changed; and storing data when image data of the imaging part is taken into the data storage means. A visual quality inspection device for electronic components, comprising: a quality judgment unit for judging the quality of the appearance of the component by using the image data of the preceding component previously taken into the means. 2. The electronic component according to claim 1, further comprising timing control means for executing intermittent transport of components, imaging, data acquisition, and quality judgment using a synchronization signal of the imaging means as a reference timing. Appearance inspection device. 3. An electronic component appearance inspection apparatus for determining the appearance of a component using image data obtained by imaging, comprising: a conveying unit for intermittently conveying an inspection target component; and a different color light for a component stopped at an imaging position. Illumination means for sequentially illuminating the components, imaging means for imaging a component stopped at the imaging position in accordance with switching of the illumination light color, and image data for each illumination light color obtained by imaging in a predetermined storage area each time the component changes Data storage means for alternately capturing and storing the image data, and when the image data of the imaging component is captured in the data storage means, using the image data of the previous component captured earlier in the data storage means to determine whether the appearance of the component is good or bad. A visual quality inspection device for an electronic component, comprising: 4. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising timing control means for executing intermittent transport of components, switching of illumination light color, imaging, data acquisition, and quality judgment using a synchronization signal of the imaging means as a reference timing. Apparatus for inspecting the appearance of electronic components as described.